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Economic preview: US inflation and PMI Friday
It's little more than two weeks until the final Federal Reserve meeting of the year and, as the minutes from the central bank's October/November meeting revealed, the board will be closely watching inflation measures.
Also of importance to the Fed, of course, are signs that the US economy is maintaining a healthy rate of growth - hopefully backed up by data on third-quarter gross domestic product and survey evidence from the country's purchasing managers.
US personal consumption expenditures (PCE)
PCE is the Fed's favoured measure of inflation, based not merely on prices but also consumer spending power.
On Thursday, PCE data for October is published and the core rate is expected to remain at 1.3% where it stood in September. The measure has remained below the Fed's 2% inflation target for more than 5 years.
Last week, minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting revealed that some board members were growing more concerned that persistently low inflation was becoming entrenched.
This can result in consumers putting off buying big-ticket items - preferring to wait and save up, or believe they can be bought more cheaply later on. The Fed is keen that this type of consumer behaviour does not lead to slower growth in spending and a negative impact on overall economic growth.
However, several members of the Fed board were "reasonably confident" that the economy and inflation would firm in the coming months and warrant additional rate hikes in the near term.
Unless Thursday's data surprise on the downside, it's likely the Fed will raise rates again at the December meeting. This would likely put further pressure on the pound against the US dollar.
PMI Friday - purchasing manager indexes
It's a big day on Friday for manufacturing growth indicators with purchasing manager updates from Japan, China, Germany and the European Union, the UK and the US.
Let's look first at the US, where the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) index is seen dipping slightly in November.
Analysts believe the index will slip to 58.5 from October's 58.7 as the rise in productivity that followed the damage and supply bottlenecks that followed Hurricanes Harvey and Irma subsides.
In the eurozone, growth in manufacturing activity has been impressive in recent months. This data should confirm an earlier purchasing manager survey this month that saw the manufacturing index rise to 60 in November from 58.5 in October.
"Nov PMI figures support our view that the eurozone economy will sustain solid growth into year-end, with the potential for further acceleration," says Chris Turner at ING.
In the UK, the November manufacturing index is seen edging higher to 56.5 from 56.3 in October.
Eurozone consumer prices (CPI)
Following October's static CPI reading at 1.4%, November's data, published on Thursday is expected to show a clear jump to 1.6% - closer to the European Central Bank's target rate of 2%.
If CPI were to climb closer to the ECB's target, it may cause some rethinking at the central bank, which is embarking on stimulus withdrawal but maintains it will not begin raising interest rates for some time to come - not until it has completed its tapering.
A stronger reading than that forecast would put both the pound and the dollar under pressure versus the euro.
Best of the rest
On Wednesday there's an update on third-quarter gross domestic product and upward revisions to the preliminary readings are expected. The annualised rate of US growth is expected to have expanded to 3.2% from the initial reading of 3%.
On the same day, the Federal Reserve's 12 individual districts present details on business conditions in the Beige Book report.
Tuesday's main events are US wholesale inventories and the UK Nationwide house price index.
In the eurozone on Wednesday are Eurostat reports on industrial confidence, consumer confidence, services sentiment and economic sentiment. Also in the UK, Tuesday sees the results of bank stress tests and Bank of England bank stress tests.
In the US, Tuesday's main results are from Sears and Wednesday is Burger King. On Thursday it's the turn of Barnes and Noble and Friday sees Hunter Oil.
In the UK, Monday brings Anglian Water and Canary Wharf Group Investments and Tuesday sees Asda report. On Wednesday it's Brewin Dolphin, Britvic and Investec Bank, while Thursday brings Daily Mail & General Trust and Green King.


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Isabel Benito, Brandon Wong, Nate Centeno
In the american nutrition association it states “Food deserts are defined as parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers.”
In the website called ‘Food is power.org” it shows us clear situations were food deserts affect people, such as “according to a report prepared for Congress by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, about 2.3 million people (or 2.2 percent of all US households) live more than one mile away from a supermarket and do not own a car. . In suburban and rural areas, public transportation is either very limited or unavailable, with supermarkets often many miles away from people’s homes.”
When speaking about social class and lower income communities, it is states that those are the communities that most suffer from food deserts, (where many people don’t have cars). In the food is power website, it alsos states that “Studies have found that wealthy districts have three times as many supermarkets as poor ones do.”
Food deserts have many other effects on communities. People with dietary restrictions such as lactose intolerance or gluten allergies find it very hard to find the foods appropriate for them to eat.
According to citylab.com, “There is a study that finds that more than half (55 percent) of all ZIP codes with a median income below $25,000 fit the definition of food deserts—that’s more than double the share of food-desert ZIP codes across the country as a whole (24 percent).”
Social movement :
Npr news: “Food Access Advocates Walk The Long Walk … To The Nearest Grocery Store”
In Npr, it states “Nearly 40 million Americans live in communities with these so-called grocery gaps, where it is easier for people to buy grape soda than a handful of grapes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Lauren Shweder Biel, executive director of the nonprofit DC Greens, which organized the event, says having so many residents involved demonstrates how strong the demand is for the healthful produce. She says she hopes that city officials — some of whom participated in the walk — retailers and the rest of the country would take notice.
“I think one of the most powerful impacts of an action like the Grocery Walk is that it silences the myth that poor people don’t want healthy food,” says Shweder Biel.”

domain: news


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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Corning Inc. has delayed construction of a $400 million fiber optics plant, and some analysts say it may never be built.
Scott Kula, Corning's plant manager, said construction will be delayed 12 to 18 months, but it should be built and in production by early 2005.
The plant in Oklahoma City would manufacture high-tech fiber optics that use bundles of glass or plastic fibers to transmit vast amounts of data. Corning is a leader in a field that also includes Alcatel and Lucent Technologies.
Corning's fiber optics sales probably will be down about 40 percent from last year, said Analyst and author Peter Cohan. The downturn in the high tech sector and excess fiber optic network capacity have thrown plans to construct the plant into question.
``It may not happen,'' Cohan said. But he stressed that the company is not in danger of going out of business. The company has $1.1 billion in cash and it made $132 million in the first quarter.
Corning's stock dropped Thursday to a new 52-week low of $16. Its 52-week high was $113.33.
Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Fox downgraded his recommendation on Corning stock from ``accumulate'' to ``neutral.''
``Our recent field checks lead us to believe that results in Corning's high-margin fiber business (20 percent to 25 percent of sales) over the next few quarters to be below even our worst-case scenario,'' he wrote.
Corning also makes flat-panel displays for television sets and computers.


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Kohl’s opened Sephora-branded mini shops inside five more of its New Jersey stores.
Sephora at Kohl’s most recently opened in Hamilton on Sept. 3, according to a press release. The store is located at 460 Market Place Blvd.
Following the opening of the first Sephora at Kohl’s in Ramsey, four more stores opened on Aug. 20: Clifton, Paramus, Turnersville and Watchung.
The Sephora at Kohl’s experience is set to expand into 200 stores this fall and at least 850 stores by 2023.
The partnership was announced last Dec., as the department store hopes to “draw new and younger customers” with the Sephora beauty selection.
Product offerings also are available online.
In New Jersey, there are currently 38 Kohl’s stores.
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Woman knocked unconscious by trampling shoppers: Patricia VanLester had her eye on a $29 DVD player, but when the siren blared at 6 a.m. Friday announcing the start to the post-Thanksgiving sale, the 41-year-old was knocked to the ground by the frenzy of shoppers behind her. [...] Paramedics called to the store found VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player, surrounded by shoppers seemingly oblivious to her, said Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance. [...]
Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called later Friday to ask about her sister, and the store apologized and offered to put a DVD player on hold for her. "We are very disappointed this happened," Burk said. "We want her to come back as a shopper."